“The Voltaire Foundation is a world leader for eighteenth-century scholarship, publishing the definitive edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire (Œuvres complètes de Voltaire), as well as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), the foremost series devoted to Enlightenment studies, and the correspondences of several key French thinkers.”

“Cambridge University Press is the publishing department of the University of Cambridge. Dedicated to excellence, our purpose is to further the University's objective of advancing knowledge, education, learning, and research.

Our extensive peer-reviewed publishing lists comprises over 40,000 titles covering academic research, professional development, over 280 research journals, school-level education, English language teaching and bible publishing. This list is growing at a rate of over 4,000 ISBNs every year and spans subjects from aesthetics through to zoology, with authors ranging from Shakespeare to English language teaching author, Ray Murphy.

A pioneer in our field, we are committed to supporting innovation in learning and teaching. We publish without boundaries, ensuring our resources are accessible across the globe, in print, digital and online formats.

We take pride in supporting community programmes across the globe. Staff are encouraged to offer practical help, advice and funding to nurture vital charitable, educational and voluntary partnerships.

Playing a leading role in today’s global market place, we have over 50 offices around the globe, and distribute our products to nearly every country in the world. We publish authors based in over 100 different countries. …“

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library contains the principal rare books and literary manuscripts of Yale University and serves as a center for research by students, faculty, and other scholars, whether affiliated with Yale or not. Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the Reading Room on the court level after researchers register with the Beinecke.

One of the largest buildings in the world devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts, the library has room in the central tower for 180,000 volumes and in the underground book stacks for over 600,000 volumes; it now contains about 500,000 volumes and several million manuscripts. Temperature and humidity controls ensure that stored materials are protected for future generations. ..”

“Over the past 40 years, Ashgate has grown to become one of the world’s leading publishing houses. We understand the value of academic research and scholarship, and we are proud of our responsiveness, flexibility and independence. Our business is driven not by text books or journals but by a program of cutting-edge research publications and specialist reference books. All books published within the Ashgate list are subject to peer review by recognized authorities in the field. We publish over 700 titles a year in Humanities and Social Science subject areas, we have well-established reprint Reference series, and we are the publishers of the highly regarded Variorum series.“

“Founded in 1999, Symétrie is exclusively dedicated to music and offers books in musicology, writings and correspondences of musicians, essays, dictionaries, novels as well as scores (from baroque music to contemporary music), journals and scientific databases. Symétrie is the associate editor of the “Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française.””

“This database holds details of pre-1850 music sources preserved in libraries and archives in the UK and Ireland. It includes manuscripts from national, public and academic libraries, county and city record offices, cathedral and chapel libraries and some private collections. It also now includes more than 300 printed anthologies from the 16th century, with links to digitised originals in the Early Music Online collection at Royal Holloway. We estimate that about two-thirds of surviving manuscript sources in the UK have now been documented. “

“This website is a portal to information about and images of worldwide collections of medieval polyphonic music manuscripts (the resource does not include plainchant). The music and the manuscripts date from approx 800 to 1550 but we do have images from a few prominent later sources. This website includes detailed information for all the known sources of European polyphonic music (which is almost entirely vocal) and high-quality colour images of some manuscripts.“

“The Royal Society, the national academy of science of the UK and the Commonwealth, is at the cutting edge of scientific progress.

We support many top young scientists, engineers and technologists, influence science policy, debate scientific issues with the public and much more. We are an independent, charitable body which derives our authoritative status from over 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members.“

Visit website for more information on the Royal Society. Also visit their Trailblazing site and online articles.

Early Music Online is a pilot project in which 300 of the world’s earliest surviving volumes of printed music, held in the British Library, have been digitised and made freely available online. You can browse the digitised content in Royal Holloway's digital repository.

You can also explore detailed descriptions of the content via the British Library Catalogue. Included are in the catalogue are full details of each digitised book, with an inventory of the contents of each, searchable by composer name, title of composition, date and subject, and with links to the digitised content. (Click 'I want this' in the Library catalogue to access the digitised content.)

Full descriptions of each volume, with links to the digitised content, have also been included in the RISM UK database and COPAC, enabling researchers to locate and access this digitised content by several different means.

You may use the digitised content on Early Music Online in any way and for any such purposes that are conducive to education, teaching, learning, private study and/or research as long as you are in compliance with the terms and conditions of our licence.“

“The Bach Cantatas Website (BCW) is a comprehensive site covering all aspects of J.S. Bach's cantatas and his other vocal works. The BCW contains discussions and detailed discographies of each cantata and other vocal works, performers and general topics. The BCW also contains texts and translations, scores, music examples, articles and interviews, and over 6,800 short biographies of performers of Bach's vocal works and players of his keyboard and lute works, as well as of poets & composers associated with Bach. There are also other relevant resources such as the Lutheran church year, database of chorale texts & melodies and their authors, detailed discographies of many Bach's instrumental works (solo keyboard, lute, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering, etc.) and piano transcriptions and their performers, reviews and discussions of Bach’s instrumental works, books and movies on Bach, terms and abbreviations, schedule of concerts of Bach's vocal works, Bach Festivals & Cantata Series, guide to Bach tour, Bach in arts and memorabilia, thousands of links to other relevant resources. The BCW is an international collective project, being compiled from various postings about the subject, most of which have been sent to the Bach Mailing Lists.“

"The aim of this website is to simplify the access to the vast amount of Early music sources. It contains bibliographical lists in the different fields of early music. Sources which are available online are supplemented by links."

"This web site is devoted to musicians interested in Early Musical Temperaments: performers of all musical instruments, singers, keyboard tuners, instrument makers and very especially to the readers of the Unequal Temperaments book (1978). ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

“Back in the 1970's I was Microfilm Librarian for the Lute Society of America, and the keeper of the largest collection of lute music in the world. Ever since then I have enjoyed copying music from the original sources, fixing andy mistakes I found, and arranging it for cittern, lute/orpharion or ensembles. These days I am particularly interested in wire-strung instruments, and I play mostly English music on orpharions, bandora and cittern. I have enjoyed music I copied from Sarge Gerbode's web site and now inspired by it, I would like to share my music with other musicians. -- Nancy Carlin“

“Did Bach Really Mean That? Deceptive Notation in Baroque Keyboard Music is an introduction to some of the most important conventions underlying the notation used by Baroque composers. Without an understanding of these conventions, a modern performer can fall into a literal reading of the score, which can sometimes result in either a partial, or a mistaken interpretation. Such a performance may not only be different from what the composer intended: it may also be simplistic and unexciting.

Colin’s long-standing concern for possible meanings lying beneath the surface of notation, was particularly encouraged by twenty years of teaching by Colin Tilney (at Dartington and at other summer schools) and by discussions with Dr. John Byrt, a passionate advocate of idiomatic rhythmic performance of apparently equal notes.

The book originated in a series of lectures given at Dartington International Summer School. Colin was repeatedly asked by participants, whether the content of the lectures was to be available as a book, and the present volume is the result of a further decade of work to that end. It eventually took the form of a systematic exploration of notational conventions, from the most basic (note-length and touch) through to rhythmic complexities, notational formulae, and certain aspects of ornamentation.

Far from imposing any rules, however, the book can liberate players from a literal dependence upon the score, reveal hidden possibilities within it, and enable performers to get that bit closer to the mindset of Baroque composers themselves. J.S.Bach was and is the most important of these, and Colin’s recording of the Goldberg Variations is not just a personal “take” on this magnificent work, but an audible demonstration of his understanding of certain features of it, as explored in the book. “

“Ut Orpheus Edizioni is a specialized publishing house, founded in Bologna in 1994 with the purpose both to discover and promote the rich Italian and European musical heritage of the past centuries and to propose itself as a vehicle for the diffusion of the contemporary musical culture.

In the past few years Ut Orpheus has rapidly achieved a relevant place among the leading international publishing houses, gaining the praise of some of the most outstanding representatives of musical culture, and establishing non episodic relations with prestigious performers, musicologists and institutions, among whom Riccardo Muti, the Salzburg Festival, the Ravenna Festival, Christopher Hogwood, Kenneth Gilbert, Hopkinson Smith.

Ut Orpheus publishes the Opera Omnia of Luigi Boccherini, Muzio Clementi, Francesco Geminiani, and the complete editions of Alessandro Scarlatti's keyboard works, Claudio Monteverdi's madrigals and sacred music, Johann Sebastian Bach's lute works. It has recently started an important and innovative project aimed at the critical edition in diplomatic transcription of the Ars Nova codices. Starting from 2007, the journal 'Ad Parnassum', now in its seventh year, was included in the 'Musicology initial list' of the European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH). The catalogue gives particular relevance to the music for harp, guitar, recorder and keyboard instruments, as well as to the 20th century repertoire and the new authors, significantly including jazz and ethnic music.

Why I give away Free Tablature and Free Music I am hoping it's sort of like a drug addiction. You play the free tune, think it's sort of nice maybe, and then dismiss it. But then a while later, you find yourself humming a tune, and can't figure out what it is. You finally figure out it's something I wrote, then you play it more and more often, as you get better at it, you become addicted, you need more. You are then forced to send me money for new pieces to supply your new habit. You start to come to the page every week hoping to see new tunes. It's all an insidious plot.

Scholarly and authoritative performing editions of sacred music from the 16th & 17th centuries

“The Cantiones Press was founded in 1996 to provide attractive and authoritative editions of Renaissance choral music. The majority of works in our catalogue have either not previously been published at all, or cannot be obtained in formats which are financially viable for choirs and consorts. Each work is presented in a clear, uncluttered style, along with an introduction which gives valuable background to the music and a guide to the editorial processes by which the edition has been shaped. Our publications are therefore welcomed both by professional and amateur groups; by those with a specialist interest in the repertoire, and those who simply want to investigate exciting and intriguing new areas of choral music.”

“Performing editions of historical lute songs are very difficult to come by. Lutenists and singers have had to double as scholars and make their own editions, either from the original sources or by cutting and pasting from scholarly editions that are completely unsuitable for the performer in their published format.

What's more, even informed scholars and performers routinely make the grevious error of taking early manuscript and printed sources at face value by transposing lute parts to fit the written vocal line. This was never intended by the original performers of the music. The voice was always a transposing instrument and was pitched to a comfortable and pleasant range or, in the case of lute songs, to match the tuning of the lute. ..“

“Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. We are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. We believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials we seek to strengthen people's engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others. Our mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music," spoken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world. The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the Folkways commitment to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound.”

"The University of North Texas Music Library's Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection includes almost 30 rare 17th- and 18th-century scores of operas and ballets by the 17th-century French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and his sons. Many of the volumes are 1st editions printed by Christophe Ballard, who held the privelège for music printing under King Louis XIV. Several are 2nd editions, printed by Henri de Baussen or Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard. The Collection also contains manuscript copies of operas and one ballet that were probably offered for sale, like the prints, at performances." Visit website for more information. (ed.)